seriously guys, maybe it is just me, but when i hear other nurses nonchalantly claiming to take care of 5+ med-surg type patients and it's no big deal, i am starting to freak out!!! i think even 4 pts is too many!! what's wrong with me?! maybe i don't have a goood rhythm/organization going, but i feel trying to juggle 4 pts on telemetry and numerous ivpb abx or meds, several ngtube meds and numerous doctor orders is too much!! especially on day shift
half the time by the time i get to try to do assessments, the doctors and residents are rounding with the patients, or ot/pt is working with them, and then i have delays in assessing and passing meds and it seems i dont' get time to do nursing 'care'.. i have too much charting to do and too many new orders, and sending patients to procedures..... yikes...
do you guys ever feel overwhelmed with this stuff? do u ever feel scared of losing your license due to missing something in the midst of all this running around and juggling many patients and meds?
i feel awful that some patient is begging for a backrub or for me to listen to them talk and i dont' have time!! id on't have time to pee, for chrissake :)
i think 2or 3 patients would be okay,, 4, maybe but 5 or more.. that's asking for trouble i think... especially when 2 of them are ngtube meds.. and all of them get numerous ivpiggyback meds and they are all on telemetry....not to mention watching labs and checking for new orders and adjuting heparin nomograms..... and admitting/discharging/transferring pts all day long.. how do y'all do it?!!!! and that's just basic medical 'tasks' .. not including fetching things for the pt/family..... or an unexpected turn for the worse,, or answering bells and walking pts to the bathroom or having a pt pull an iv out......
thanks for the input guys... as i may have mentioned, i am a full-time RN student, so i don't work full-time but i've been looking for a less-stress position... but none available...aren't too many LPN jobs out , and the ones i've found are in the hospital i used to work at(i dont' wanna go back).. or some in nursing homes, which i do go to nursing homes thru my agency, but agency work isn't reliable.....got cancelled today after i got to the facility.. and i had to get my two poor kids up in the wee morning and take them out in the cold i get so angry sometimes.... i want a job where i can enjoy my days off and not spend them stressing over going back to work the next day....i want a job where i can come home and not be overly tired/stressed so that i can actually go to the gym or store and not want to just crawl in bed!!!!
would L&D/postpartum be a good choice? how about home health? i thought about doing stuff in a plastic surgeon office, but hard to find those jobs!!! would endoscopy be better?
OMG LPN2RNmommy--do you work on MY floor?! This is EXACTLY the kind of crap I'm dealing with. I've been off orientation for about 3 weeks, and I'm TOTALLY overwhelmed. Yesterday my 8-hour shift took 9.5 hours to complete--and that's WITHOUT taking even five minutes to eat. I couldn't figure out why the McDonald's across the street from the hospital is open 24/7. Now I know why!
I'm someone who has always been confident in my intelligence and my abilities. But by the end of a shift I always feel like an incompetent idiot. I work 3-11, and we're always getting new admits/discharges and people coming and going to procedures. I can handle STABLE patients whose orders are clear and reasonable. But when you throw in BPs over 160 with IV push labetalol, uncontrolled pain with no more meds available, unidentifiable heart rhythms, and funky psych-social issues, it's enough to put me in the nut house!
Last night I had a day-1 CABG patient who kept me in the room for 90% of my shift. She had tons of issues, and there was NOBODY ON CALL from cardio-thoracic. I was ready to walk off the floor.
Today is day one of THREE DAYS OFF
Just know that some other new grads, (myself definitely included) are right there with you. I'm not even off orientation yet (about 2 weeks left), and I'm already feeling the pain. How was it when you were finally on your own? I'm scared.
thanks for the input guys... as i may have mentioned, i am a full-time RN student, so i don't work full-time but i've been looking for a less-stress position... but none available...aren't too many LPN jobs out , and the ones i've found are in the hospital i used to work at(i dont' wanna go back).. or some in nursing homes, which i do go to nursing homes thru my agency, but agency work isn't reliable.....got cancelled today after i got to the facility.. and i had to get my two poor kids up in the wee morning and take them out in the cold i get so angry sometimes.... i want a job where i can enjoy my days off and not spend them stressing over going back to work the next day....i want a job where i can come home and not be overly tired/stressed so that i can actually go to the gym or store and not want to just crawl in bed!!!!
would L&D/postpartum be a good choice? how about home health? i thought about doing stuff in a plastic surgeon office, but hard to find those jobs!!! would endoscopy be better?
just ideas..... thanks guys!!
We are pretty much interested in the same type of job. You mentioned the gym. I work out at home (or try to). I generally TRY to get up in the morning b/f work b/c I know after work...forget about it. I'm finding that I am so exhausted both before and after work to even think about doing anything. On my off days, if I didn't make myself get up, I could easily sleep half the day away. When I finally do get out of bed, I am so sluggish/sloth-like that before I know it, it's 3pm and I haven't done a darn thing.
Some of the other areas you mentioned sounded fine. I don't know about home health though. I thought about it a few times, but a couple of people have told me that it's not a good idea, because of safety issues. I worked as a sort of home health aide years ago. The assignments that I had were not good, to say the least. When I had to go to an assisted living type of place to see a client, I felt a little safer.
I was ready to walk off the floor. 
i get so angry sometimes.... i want a job where i can enjoy my days off and not spend them stressing over going back to work the next day....i want a job where i can come home and not be overly tired/stressed so that i can actually go to the gym or store and not want to just crawl in bed!!!!
LPN2RNmommy
17 Posts
thanks for the input guys... as i may have mentioned, i am a full-time RN student, so i don't work full-time but i've been looking for a less-stress position... but none available...aren't too many LPN jobs out , and the ones i've found are in the hospital i used to work at(i dont' wanna go back).. or some in nursing homes, which i do go to nursing homes thru my agency, but agency work isn't reliable.....got cancelled today after i got to the facility.. and i had to get my two poor kids up in the wee morning and take them out in the cold
i get so angry sometimes.... i want a job where i can enjoy my days off and not spend them stressing over going back to work the next day....i want a job where i can come home and not be overly tired/stressed so that i can actually go to the gym or store and not want to just crawl in bed!!!!
would L&D/postpartum be a good choice? how about home health? i thought about doing stuff in a plastic surgeon office, but hard to find those jobs!!! would endoscopy be better?
just ideas..... thanks guys!!